Sudan's Army Is Pushing Back the Rapid Support Forces in Darfur — Here's What's Happening

A military counteroffensive by Sudan's army and its allies in the Darfur region has dealt a series of defeats to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that has been fighting the government since 2023. In early August 2026, army-aligned forces repelled two RSF attacks near Bir Saliba, a strategically important area about 30 kilometers north of el-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state. El-Geneina is the last major RSF stronghold in the region (Al Jazeera).

The RSF tried to attack Bir Saliba from two directions at once, in what military planners call a pincer movement — like closing a pair of pliers around a target. One RSF force came from north of Kulbus while a second column moved from the Sileia area in Jebel Moon. The attack was stopped by the Joint Force of the Armed Struggle Movements, a coalition of former rebel groups from Darfur who signed a peace agreement in 2020 and now fight alongside the Sudanese army. According to Joint Force spokesman Major Mutawakkil Ali Wakil Abu-Ja, the Sudanese military destroyed more than 38 combat vehicles and captured 27 others. Abu-Ja also said the RSF commander for the Bir Saliba sector was killed in the fighting (Al Jazeera).

Darfur Regional Governor Minni Arko Minnawi announced that Major General Mahdi Adam, known by his nickname "Jebel Moon" and one of the RSF's most prominent field commanders, was killed in fighting in western Sudan. The RSF has not officially confirmed his death (Al Jazeera).

Government-backed forces have also gone after the RSF's supply lines. They seized control of border crossings and desert routes along the Sudan-Chad border, and carried out air strikes on a convoy near the border, according to Major General Othman Siraj. West Darfur state governor General Bahr al-Din Adam Karama explained that Bir Saliba sits on a network of roads connecting el-Geneina with Jebel Moon and Kulbus, making it a crucial hub for moving troops and supplies across the western part of the country (Al Jazeera).

The Sudanese army has also pushed its reach further north, launching airstrikes against the RSF near the border where Sudan, Libya, and Egypt meet, according to military sources cited by The New Arab (The New Arab). On the Chadian border, the army-allied Joint Force repelled an RSF attempt to recapture a West Darfur position, as reported earlier in the week (Mada Masr).

The human cost is rising. Thousands of people are fleeing the renewed fighting near el-Geneina following the RSF assault on Bir Saliba (Sudan Tribune).

The broader context here is that the balance of power in western Sudan may be shifting. Fadel Kaya, a leader and adviser with the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army — Transitional Council (SLM/TC), said the Joint Force's victories suggest the RSF has gone from trying to seize new territory to retreating from key positions. If that pattern continues, it would be a notable change in a war where the RSF previously held the upper hand across much of Darfur's five states. The RSF has depended on speed, mobility, and supply routes running through neighboring Chad to keep its forces armed and fueled. Losing senior commanders, dozens of vehicles, and those cross-border corridors all add up.

Several things will determine whether this momentum lasts. The RSF has not confirmed the death of Major General Adam, and both sides in this conflict have a track record of making battlefield claims that turn out to be exaggerated or false. The Joint Force is made up of former rebel groups with their own followers and grievances, which adds political complexity to the army's coalition. And while seizing border crossings cuts off RSF resupply, it also risks further destabilizing a frontier region that already hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people, with potential spillover into Chad's own security.

What is verifiable at this stage is that the Sudanese army and its allies have made coordinated gains across several fronts in West Darfur, from Bir Saliba to the Chadian border to the northern frontier near Libya and Egypt. Whether those gains turn into lasting control or get reversed by an RSF counterattack is a question the coming weeks of fighting will answer.